Pradeepan Jeeva

Three Fridays ago, Daniel Henry, Amreitha Miller and I did an outreach. Our plan was to give out free hot chocolate, but that seemed too complicated (water and powder are difficult to put together). So we went to Safeway and bought 40 boxes of LITTLE DEBBIE snacks. Delicious.

We went to a movie theatre, set up all of our boxes, split up and handed them to people walking in and out of movies. Basically, we executed a simple plan:

1. Ask people if they want a free cookie2. Give the free cookie3. If they asked why we were doing this, we said “We want to show you God’s love in a tangible way with no strings attached.”4. Refuse to accept any money.

I love this type of evangelism because it’s a low cost/high gain scenario. It’s not as awkward as approaching a stranger and beginning an intense conversation about the their past, and explaining how their future can be changed. If someone rejects us in this scenario, they are rejecting the cookie—not us. This makes it easy for most people--no matter how afraid--to engage in this evangelism.

For the most part, evangelism is something that Christians and non-Christians hate. So, we gave out cookies in an attempt to redefine what evangelism can look like.

Stories:-Cop grabbed our goods and allowed us to stay on the property-Engaged cop in philosophical conversation about Jesus-People tried to pay us, but refused to take their money. They couldn’t believe that we would give them something for free.-Prayed with a group of young girls-Prayed with a girl about her mom going to jail for 15 years-Shared the Gospel with many people as they asked about why we were out there-One guy, Mike, joined us for the entire night. He even went out to eat with us afterwards

I want to do ministry like this more often and show people how easy and effective evangelism can be. People thanked us for being out there. We left very encouraged, and so did they. Booya.

Pradeepan Jeeva

My name is Pradeepan Jeeva, and I am planting Kalos Church in Bellevue, Washington I like to write about things concerning Church, my life and painful challenges.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Pradeepan Jeeva is planting a church in Seattle and formerly pastored an 18+ God Party in between an Apple Orchard and a Christmas Tree Farm near Detroit. Raised by Hindu Sri Lankan Refugees, he offers a unique perspective on leadership and faith.